Just a general BS discusion

[JamesinNC]

Guys, I don't post here much but I really enjoy the site. I'm like most of you guys, mid-thirty's, have 2 kids which i'd die for, and am generally concerned about things. Not so much for myself, but for my kids. For those of you young guys that don't have kids yet, you'll understand one day. I've been around enough to expierence the Y2K stuff in which everyone thought the sky was fallling. I try not to be too gullible. But I have to tell you, I have a real bad feeling in my gut. I'm not real religious but I think this radical Muslim problem is going to get out of hand. I'm strong now and have a lot of weapons to protect my family, but whats the world going to be like when i'm gone? I can't protect my two beautiful girls forever. I don't really have any questions or advice for you guys. Just looking for some moral support from some like-minded Americans. James in NC[/quote]

[apochachuva]

Guys, I don't post here much but I really enjoy the site. I'm like most of you guys, mid-thirty's, have 2 kids which i'd die for, and am generally concerned about things. Not so much for myself, but for my kids. I don't give a rats ass about my sorry old ass. But i'd kill a thousand men to keep from hurting my daughters feelings. For those of you young guys that don't have kids yet, you'll understand one day. I've been around enough to expierence the Y2K stuff in which everyone thought the sky was fallling. I try not to be too gullible. But I have to tell you, I have a real bad feeling in my gut. I'm not real religious but I think this radical Muslim problem is going to get out of hand. I'm strong now and have a lot of weapons to protect my family, but whats the world going to be like when i'm gone? I can't protect my two beautiful girls forever. I don't really have any questions or advice for you guys. Just looking for some moral support from some like-minded Americans. James in NC

[/quote]
Teach them to shoot and defend themselves, spend time with them, hope they enjoy it too.
Give a man a fish... Teach a man to fish.... applies here.
It seems that there are issues falling apart everywhere. EVERY group with power is trying to take away some kind of freedom, or impose a restriction in some way. With everyone coming from a different angle it's hard to tell what's going to be worst first.

[Blaubart]

Bad times are coming, assuming of course that people won't change thier ways.

There are simply too many people in the world and there are so many systems that are stretched to the limit already that if there's a major disruption somewhere, then people all over are going to find themselves in a SHTF situation. People are dependent on our economy functioning smoothly and efficiently because we can't individually produce everything we need to survive. Some of us can, but not everyone.

What happens if OPEC refuses to sell oil to us because we've pissed them off and they really don't need us anymore because China, India and Europe can buy all of their production?

What happens when the Ogallala Aquifer dries up? For those of you who aren't famililar with it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogallala_Aquifer

What if both of those happen at the same time? We won't be able to pump enough oil to meet our needs from domestic wells and we won't be able to grow enough crops or have enough water to make ethanol or biodiesel to keep our economy afloat.

But instead of becoming more independent, we just keep sucking from the OPEC tit because it's easy and cheaper than changing our ways.

I'd love to keep on ranting, but I have to get to a meeting...

[Blaubart]

Give a man a fish... Teach a man to fish.... applies here.

But today, it's different: "Teach a man to fish and he'll wonder why the hell you bothered, because you could have just given him the damn fish."

[sluggie24]

I'm in the same boat as you. I would say don't worry too much. I think bad things will be happening way before we are too old to do anything about it. They are coming soon from different directions.

Personally I think muslim terrorists are going to be the least of our problems........

[gaw]

When things get bad people will try living off the land. This unfortunately is no longer legal so SHTF will be on an individual basis. And we will die on an individual basis. And every one else will fall neatly into line afraid to fight for their freedom. When criminals are allowed to offend repeatedly because of human rights then there is a much bigger problem than portrayed in the media. I don't worry about myself but for my family. I grew up in good times. They don't seem so good now.

P.S. There are no zombies unless you classify the system as the undead.

[MisterWilson]

Give a man a fish... Teach a man to fish.... applies here.

But today, it's different: "Teach a man to fish and he'll wonder why the hell you bothered, because you could have just given him the damn fish."

Build a man a fire, warm him for a day.

Set a man on fire, warm him for a lifetime.



I'm just about in the same boat as you are, and the hackles of my neck are also raised.

However, I'm not nearly concerned about the mooslim issue as much as an economic/Argentina scenario. It's being in a city, completely dependent on a grocery store & a gas station to survive that scares me.
(Surrounded by other more desperate people)

[Hootiewho]

My Grandfather, a Great Depression Share Cropper & WWII vet, passed on in 1992. He was totally convinced that we would be fighting Muslims from now on. This was before the first Gulf war, and before many of the terrorism acts. He was so convinced of it, he bought a Koran and read it to try and figure out what makes those people act the way they do. I do believe there will come a time where we will be subject to some of the same activities that go on daily in Israel. Go take a carbine or handgun class from any of the instructors around that are worth their weight; one of the things you will hear on the first day is to take this training seriously as it is not a matter of if, but when we have to deal with raticalism here in the US. You never know when you are that one person, at the right place at the right time who's actions can make a difference for the lives of others.

As far as SHTF, I think that bad situations will happen for people and in their own little world it may be a SHTF situation for a while. Nothing is forever. As bad as Katrina was, things got better.

Someone mentioned living off the land; well how many other people think that way too? The world is so much more populated no than it was in the depression, and it was during that time that the deer population in many areas of our country was reduced to almost nothing. It wouldn't take long for natural resources to be expended, and growing your own food will be the key. How many know how to farm?

Enjoy life now, prepare for hard times, learn to pray.

Eat, Drink, & Be Merry; for tomorrow we die.

[964race]

I've gotten a lot of heat from my wife about being too negative on the future over the last few years. I spent the first 37 years of my life with a very bright outlook. Life was great and always getting better. My pessimism started for around 3 years ago when I started researching the peak oil issue. That was the first time in my life that I have actually had serious concerns about the future. Peak oil, and all it's implications, will be the greatest issue of our lives, and will lead to many hardships even for those who think they are prepared. The truth of it is so ugly I still find myself in denial about it. The fact is oil is at the center of our existence. It's our food, shelter, clothing, and transportation. It's the life blood of our entire economy, and despite what you may have heard, there is no simple replacement. When you look at the carrying capacity of this planet without ready supply of cheap oil, and the massive population overshoot we currently have, you start to get an idea of where we may be headed. To give you some idea of the scale here let me give an example. In the years of WWII from 1939-45, the world lost 70 million people to war. That was for the entire 6 years !! Now imagine losing that many people each and every single year for 50 years straight and we might get to a number that the planet could substain without oil driven agriculture. It's difficult to imagine living in a world like that with those kind of loses every year. They say necessity is the mother of invention. I sure hope they are right.

[will36]

Teach them to shoot, take them camping,and hunting. Grow a garden with them. My baby girl is 11 and has killed 2 deer so far. She out fishes her brothers and having 4 older brothers she is a handful in a fight. She will do just fine. I really do feel bad for her future husband if he doesn't do right.

[szemke]

To give you some idea of the scale here let me give an example. In the years of WWII from 1939-45, the world lost 70 million people to war. That was for the entire 6 years !! Now imagine losing that many people each and every single year for 50 years straight and we might get to a number that the planet could substain without oil driven agriculture. It's difficult to imagine living in a world like that with those kind of loses every year. They say necessity is the mother of invention. I sure hope they are right.

So basically 3.5 billion people need to bite the dust.. Lets figure this out here.. Africa 1 billion people.. China 1.5 billion.. India 1.1 billion.. Iran 65 million.. Mexico 109 million..

According to the CIA World Factbook China has a land mass slightly smaller than the USA. But has 5 times the population of the USA. Maybe those countries that are over populated will experience attrition due to lack of resources.

Throw in some global warming, a few disasters, chaos and rioting due to lack of food, maybe in 20 years the world will be a better place

[jppd47]

I think the stem of the worlds problem is over population. There is just to may of us in to small of areas. I do Believe that because of this, in my life time (I'm 23), the world will change as we know it. Catastrophically or not.
But I don't think there is to much you can do about it, you cant make people stop screwing. Can't tell them they can only have one child. I imagine trying to educate everyone would be the only way.
I have a daughter who's 7 months now. And can't wait till she starts to get older so i can teach her things, such as shooting, fishing, and physical training.
I think that people in general over look fitness, keeping your body physical strong with weights, running, swimming, ect is one of the most important parts of any SHTF situation.

[szemke]

I'm 25 and I feel the same way. I dont think the next 25 years will be as good as the last 25 have been. Global warming or not, too many people wanting too few resources. Whoever can defend themselves will survive. Survival of the fittest will not only apply to people, but to nations as well. When I see how many people my age are serving our country, I'd be lying if I said it didnt make me want to serve as well. I just hope we have strong leaders that will make the tough decisions. People who will decide not to half ass military operations, to get in and destroy whomever or whatever threatens us and go home. Not these pansy ass gun stealing, tree hugging, make love not war sissy bastards **COUGH** DEMOCRATS **COUGH**


Go NAVY!!

[MicroGuy]

Yeah, I'm with you I guess, but I'm single.

I don't think things will get so bad now, but later, maybe next generation, maybe the one after.

Like was said, about all you can do, is teach them the skills they need, shooting, hunting, fishing, camping, survival etc....

Start when they're young, make it a part of their life. Start them out with BB guns, then move on to say "Anguila" primer only, then .22's and on up.

Teach them the survival skills they might need, camping, hunting etc....

But, none of that will do one whit of good, if they don't understand the problem.

You have to teach them about what's going on in the world and why it's a problem. Teach them about our constitution and why it's there, and most of all, HOW it got there and why we're losing everything.

But you'll have to be prepared to fight back, because when they go to school, they will try to UN-do everything you have done. They will try to teach them to be good little robots and never question government and in fact ask for MORE government every chance they get.

One thing is for sure, especially being girls, you will have to teach them to kill. I think, in a robbery or something, that's why people die, because they don't want to hurt their fellow man.

They just can't hit hard, they can't pull that trigger. If the s--t hits the fan, they will HAVE to kill, they MUST pull that trigger. Train them to kill. I'd start them in self-defense stuff too. Most kids love it.

It also teaches discipline.

But raising them, knowing what made this country great to start with, the sacrifices, and what's happening now, will go a long way.

Your school will/may be your biggest enemy. There are SO many stories out there of leftwing moonbat schools brainwashing kids. Drives me nuts, and *I* don't even have kids!!!

Having said that, YOU have to be prepared to fight a losing battle. You can and should teach them everything they know. But, you can't make them learn it or care about it. Especially girls, most of 'em just don't like hunting, camping, killing, shooting etc.... That's why you have to teach them that it's ok to do this, and still be a girl, that they will need this later on.

One thing I mean is, a lot of kids grow up to be the opposite of their parents.
Liberal parents/conservative kids,
preachers daughter/easy lay.... that sort of thing.

Nothing you can do about it. That's why I say teach 'em, the rest is up to them.



But yeah, this country is falling apart. They almost ruled the constitution was UN-constitutional!!! The SCOTUS is looking to international law more and more, instead of interpreting the constitution like they should be doing. They're packing the courts with liberal judges that go against the constitution at every turn, nobody seems to care....

The government is even promoting islam so it looks "PC". PC is run amok.....


Yeah, we have problems.....


But, on the bright side. Most constitutional republics like the USA don't last more than 200 years. We have beat that.

All countries have to cede power, Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Brittan, The Netherlands.... All world powers at one time or another. All fell by the wayside later..... to another power.

The US will fall also, probably to China, maybe even Iraq or Iran in time.

But, will we let go? Or will we destroy the world along with us?? Will we learn to adapt?

[Artful]

I'm 25 and I feel the same way. I dont think the next 25 years will be as good as the last 25 have been. Global warming or not, too many people wanting too few resources. Whoever can defend themselves will survive. Survival of the fittest will not only apply to people, but to nations as well. When I see how many people my age are serving our country, I'd be lying if I said it didnt make me want to serve as well. I just hope we have strong leaders that will make the tough decisions. People who will decide not to half ass military operations, to get in and destroy whomever or whatever threatens us and go home. Not these pansy ass gun stealing, tree hugging, make love not war sissy bastards **COUGH** DEMOCRATS **COUGH**


Go NAVY!!

The sad part is I'm twice your age, and cosider the time before my birth to have been a better time for the US. between 1945 and 1965 I think we peaked as a society - science and technology are yet to peak but when I think of the stuff they built with slip sticks and drafting machines - they put us to shame. Our Unamerican attitudes by the immigrants, broken moral compass, backwards judicial decisions and Political Correctness seem to have doomed the next several generations to an internal fight to get back on the course our founding fathers had started steering us on.

[withoutremorse42]

knowledge is the best ammo. learn what you can and buy books on the rest.

Reading "The Brendan Voyage" where in the '70's a few guys rebuilt a leather hulled skiff and sailed from ireland to the US mimicking the voyage of st brendan who arrived hundreds of years before the vikings.

The one recurring theme was that the new high tech stuff worked better but would break or run out of batteries. all the low tech indiginous gear would keep running or could be repaired. Bows and arrows require more tact than a .308 bolt gun, but try fixing that bent scope.

Edible plants, deer skin tanning info, sewing info, pottery making... all good info to have that can be found on some of the websites dedicated to preserving native american skills.

The last gunslinger will seem a God among men, but even he will prove to be quite mortal.

[kurtiss]

I am also in the same boat as the OP. Thinking about my kids having a great, happy, safe life takes up a lot of my thought these days. I have settled into the fact that I will not always be able to protect them in the future. Especially when they fly the coop. Hopefully, I will train and teach them to be enough of a badass to take care of themselves. But it is scary to think about what they are probably going to have to face in their lifetimes.

[tgbrowning]

What concerns me most is the value of our money. The Federal Reserve is a Corporation and Not a part of our Government.

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them (around the banks), will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." Thomas Jefferson, Letter 1802 to Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin

Thomas Jefferson saw this as a problem long ago. And now, we are reaping the whirlwind. When Kennedy was assassinated, the 1st thing that happened was our money was taken off of the Silver Standard. (Meaning our Dollars were backed with Silver) Now, our money is backed by the faith of our people and the nations of the world in our government. It is a fiat currency and the Federal Reserve prints it as needed. Our money no longer has any true value. It wouldn't even make good toilet paper!

If the nations of the world decide to dump their dollars, we are in trouble.

Does anyone realize the stimulus checks were financed with a loan? Yet, our government gives money away everyday to every worthless government or cause one could name. And, we the taxpayers, are expected to pay for it all. No wonder our freedoms are being chipped away. An armed and free citizenry is a very dangerous thing to the powers that be. The bumper sticker, Ammunition, Currency of the New Millennium!, could be very prophetic and your most valuable asset.

[smcharchan]

Bumped for a reason.

I'm interested in hearing if people still have the same grim outlook as was expressed previously in this thread.

[generaldisarray]

What fundamental changes have happened that would make things better for the long term?
None.

Look what happened last Thursday and Friday.

[continuity]

I grew up in an era where fire drills were outside, tornado drills were inside hallways, nuclear attack drills were under your desk. The commies, USSR, were not only infiltrating our government, but were going to attack any day. It was all good though, because we were going to destroy them back, assured mutual destruction. These were all immediate concerns that some were sure were goning to destroy the world as we knew it in very short order.

Somehow, we, the royal humanity we, moved past those times and on to new more pressing "concerns" that are both immediate and seem to portent humanities destruction.... again.

Not to say that preparation isn't practical for what appears to be in the wind. It's the first step in successful self preservation. Just that the current hot button issue(s) might be best viewed from one step back, after a deep breath, and with a grain of salt.

[smcharchan]

What fundamental changes have happened that would make things better for the long term?
None.

Look what happened last Thursday and Friday.

Therein lies the crux of my query. I'm sampling a specific subset of the population in order to gain a better understanding of mankind's reaction to certain emotional stressors. Some of the stressors I'm interested in have changed in the last two years, and I would like to better understand the effect their change has had.

That, or I just like digging up old threads...

[bakerjw]

My outlook is grim. Look at the riots in Greece. Imagine if for some reason the average American can't get food at the store, loses power for an extended length of time, etc??? Most Americans are pansy ass wussies.

I don;t have a plan for long term survival but I am steadily working towards putting the odds in my favor. A solar system with 24V batteries and a 24VDC to 220VAC inverter to run my well is in the plans for later this year. When that is in place I should be able to get by for a year or 2 in a complete collapse.

[hesh]

Send your girls to "jesus camp".

Rightwing extremeism is the obvious remedy for jihad.

hesh.

[zeezee]

"Enjoy life now, prepare for hard times, learn to pray." Preparedness & prayer, the answer to a majority of lives problems. So simple, yet so often overlooked. Thanks for those words of wisdom.